RALEIGH, N.C. — A Muslim man from North Carolina has plead guilty to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Akba Jihad Jordan, 22, of Raleigh, and friend Avin Marsalis Brown, 21, were arrested earlier this year after they unknowingly engaged in conversation with an undercover FBI agent.
During the discussions, the men spoke of their desire to travel overseas, either to Yemen or Syria to wage war against the “kuffar,” who are non-Muslims, and “munafiq,” who are Muslims that are considered hypocrites. The men also outlined the weapons that they had in their possession, and noted that they would not hesitate to use them both in the United States and abroad to fight the “kuffar.”
The men were arrested in March of this year following the discussions, with Brown being taken into custody at Raleigh Durham International airport as he sought to fly to Turkey and eventually join ISIS, or as they call themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Jordan had not yet purchased his passport, but officials state that he had made an appointment to do so. His weapons—both guns and swords—were confiscated from his apartment following his arrest.
Brown plead guilty in August, and Jordan plead guilty on Thursday to a count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. He faces up to 15 years behind bars and will be sentenced at a later time.
“Akba Jordan turned his back on his own country and was willing to fight side by side with terrorist groups in Yemen and Syria who wish to do us harm,” John Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in North Carolina, said in a statement following the hearing. “American citizens who offer support to terrorist organizations pose a grave threat to our national security and will face serious consequences for their actions.”
United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker also remarked that the matter serves as “a sober reminder that we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prosecute extremists who conspire to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations.”
The men are among a string of other Americans who have been arrested this year following their attempts to join Muslims in jihad overseas.
As previously reported, Colorado teen Shannon Conley, 19, was taken into custody at the Denver International Airport this past April as she was set to fly to Germany and then on to an ISIS camp near Turkey, where she would wait to hear from an Islamic man that she sought marry. Conley, who is a certified nurse’s aide, told investigators that she was was going to serve as a nurse at a jihadist camp, and wished to help wage jihad against the United States. She plead guilty in court last month as part of a plea deal.
Michael Todd Wolfe, 23, plead guilty in June after he was nabbed at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, where he was seeking to fly to Denmark and then on to Syria to join ISIS. Rahatul Ashikim Khan, also 23 and a student at the University of Texas at Austin, was arrested the same month for conspiring with others to recruit individuals to travel overseas to work with terrorist organizations and wage jihad.
And former North Carolina police officer Donald Morgan appeared in court last month on weapons charges just weeks after he was apprehended by the FBI while returning home from an attempt to join ISIS. He had spent the past eight months in Lebanon as he sought entry into Syria to assist the group.
An Illinois teenager was also taken into custody earlier this month at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago as he waited to board a flight to Vienna, where he would eventually make his way into Syria or Iraq to join ISIS.
Photo: WSOC-TV
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